Athletic training students do not always get clinical experiences in caring for patients with every possible medical condition they might encounter as certified athletic trainers. Athletic training education programs need to find ways students can practice evaluating and caring for patients with rarely seen medical conditions. High-fidelity manikin simulations provide students with opportunities to practice uncommonly seen medical conditions realistically. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate the effect of a high-fidelity manikin simulation on athletic training students' perceived self-efficacy in caring for a patient with a traumatic brain injury.

The Traumatic Brain Injury Self-Efficacy Survey was used as a pretest and posttest to collect students' perceived self-efficacy scores, and the researcher used a focus group session to understand students' perceptions of the simulation experience. The results of the study showed that students' self-efficacy in caring for a patient with a traumatic brain injury increased following the high-fidelity manikin simulation. The focus group session data showed that athletic training students felt that high-fidelity manikin simulation was beneficial for their learning and for increasing their self-efficacy. The students described starting the simulation with doubt in their abilities, but that doubt transformed into increased self-efficacy throughout the simulation experience. They also noted that the debriefing component of the experience was the most influential for their learning and increased self-efficacy. This researcher recommends that athletic training education programs incorporate high-fidelity manikin simulations into their programs to increase students’ self-efficacy in caring for medical conditions they rarely experience in clinical rotations.